1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electromagnetic bandgap structure, more specifically to an electromagnetic bandgap structure and a printed circuit board having the same that prevent a signal ranging a predetermined frequency band from being transmitted.
2. Description of the Related Art
New electronic apparatuses and communication apparatuses are increasingly becoming smaller, thinner and lighter, reflecting today's emphasis on growing mobility.
These electronic and communication apparatuses have various complex electronic circuits (i.e. analog circuits and digital circuits) for performing their functions and operations. These electronic circuits typically carry out their functions by being implemented in a printed circuit board (PCB). The electronic circuits on the PCB commonly have different operation frequencies from one another.
The printed circuit board in which various electronic circuit boards are implemented often has a noise problem, caused by the transfer of an electromagnetic (EM) wave resulted from the operation frequency and its corresponding harmonics components of one electronic circuit to another electronic circuit. The transferred noise can be roughly classified into radiation noise and conduction noise.
The radiation noise can be easily prevented by covering a protective cap on the electronic circuit. However, preventing the conduction noise (refer to the reference numeral 150 of FIG. 1) is not as easy, because the conduction noise is transferred through a signal transfer path inside the board.
The noise problem will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a printed circuit board including two electronic circuits having different operation frequencies. Although FIG. 1 shows a 4-layered printed circuit board 100, it shall be evident that the printed circuit board can be modified to have a 2, 6 or 8-layered structure.
As shown in FIG. 1, the printed circuit board 100 includes four metal layers 110-1, 110-2, 110-3 and 110-4 (hereinafter, collectively referred to as 110) and dielectric layers 120-1, 120-2 and 120-3 (hereinafter, collectively referred to as 120) interposed between metal layers 110. The top metal layer 110-1 of the printed circuit board 100 is implemented with two electronic circuits 130 and 140 having different operation frequencies (hereinafter, referred to as a first electronic circuit 130 and a second electronic circuit 140, respectively). Here, it is assumed that the two electronic circuits 130 and 140 are digital circuits.
Here, if it is assumed that the metal layer represented by the reference numeral 110-2 is a ground layer and the metal layer represented by the reference numeral 110-3 is a power layer, each ground pin of the first electronic circuit 130 and the second electronic circuit 140 is electrically connected to the metal layer represented by the reference numeral 110-2 and each power pin is electrically connected to the metal layer represented by the reference numeral 110-3. In the printed circuit board 100, every ground layer is also electrically connected to each other through vias. Similarly, every power layer is also electrically connected to each other through vias. As an example, a via 160 electrically connects the metal layers of the reference numerals 110-1, 110-3, and 110-4 as shown in FIG. 1.
At this time, if the first electronic circuit 130 and the second electronic circuit 140 have different operation frequencies, a conductive noise 150 caused by an operation frequency of the first electronic circuit 130 and its harmonics components is transferred to the second electronic circuit 140. This has a disadvantageous effect on the accurate function/operation of the second electronic circuit 140.
With the growing complexity of electronic apparatuses and higher operation frequencies of digital circuits, it is increasingly difficult to solve this conduction noise problem. Especially, the typical bypass capacitor method or decoupling capacitor method for solving the conductive noise problem is no longer adequate, as the electronic apparatuses use a higher frequency band.
Moreover, the aforementioned solutions are not adequate when several active devices and passive devices need to be implemented in a complex wiring board having various types of electronic circuits formed on the same board or in a narrow area such as a system in package (SiP) or when a high frequency band is required for the operation frequency, as in a network board.
Accordingly, an electromagnetic bandgap structure (EBG) is recently receiving attention as a scheme to solve the aforementioned conductive noise. This is for the purpose of blocking a signal ranging a certain frequency band by arranging the EBG having a certain structure in a printed circuit board, and the typical EBG has roughly two, namely a Mushroom type EBG (MT-EBG) and a Planar type EBG (PT-EBG).
A general form of the MT-EBG is illustrated in FIG. 2.
For example, the MT-EBG has the structure in which a plurality of EBG cells (refer to the reference numeral 230 of FIG. 2) having a mushroom form are interposed between two metal layers which function as a power layer and a ground layer. FIG. 2 shows only four EBG cells for the convenience of illustration.
With reference to FIG. 2, the MT-EBG 200 further forms a metal plate 231 between a first metal layer 210 and a second metal layer 220 that function as each one of the ground layer and the power layer, and has a form in which the mushroom type structures 230 connecting the first metal layer 210 and the metal plate 231 through a via 232 are repeatedly arranged. At this time, a first dielectric layer 215 is interposed between the first metal layer 210 and the metal plate 231, and a second dielectric layer 225 is interposed between the metal plate 231 and the second metal layer 220.
Such MT-EBG 200 performs the function as a sort of band stop filter by having the state of which a capacitance component formed by the second metal layer 220, the second dielectric layer 225 and the metal plate 231, and an inductance component formed by the via 232 penetrating the first dielectric layer 215 and connecting the first metal layer 210 and the metal plate 231, are connected in L-C series between the first metal layer 210 and the second layer 220.
However, the largest demerit of this structure is the increase of layers, because it needs at least 3 layers to implement the MT-EBG 200. In this case, not only the manufacturing cost of the PCB increases, but also the design freedom is limited.
On the one hand, PT-EBG is illustrated in FIG. 3.
PT-EBG has a structure in which a plurality of EBG cells (refer to the reference numeral 320-1 of FIG. 3) having a certain pattern are repeatedly arranged through any entire metal layer that functions as each one of the ground layer and the power layer. FIG. 3 also shows only four EBG cells for the convenience of illustration.
With reference to FIG. 3, PT-EBG 300 has a form in which any metal layer 310 and a plurality of metal plates 321-1, 321-2, 321-3 and 321-4, which are placed on another planar surface, are bridged to each other through a certain part of metal plates (the edge end of each metal plate in FIG. 3) by metal branches 322-1, 322-2, 322-3 and 322-4.
At this time, the metal plates 321-1, 321-2, 321-3, and 321-4 having a large size constitute the low impedance area and the metal branches having a small size constitute the high impedance area. Accordingly, PT-EBG performs the function as a band stop filter that can block a noise ranging a certain frequency band through the structure in which the low impedance area and the high impedance area are repeatedly formed in turn.
Although such PT-EBG structure has a merit that is enough to constitute the bandgap structure by using only two layers in contrast to the structure of MT-EBG, there is not only a difficulty in making cells smaller but also a design limit, which makes it hard to apply to various application products because it is formed in a lager area. This is because PT-EBG forms the EBG structure by not utilizing various parameters but using only two impedance components.
As described above, the EBG structures according to the conventional technology, such as the MT-EBG and the PT-EBG; have a limit in adjusting each bandgap frequency band appropriate to the conditions and features that are required for various application products or lower a conductive noise below the intended noise level within a pertinent bandgap frequency band.
Accordingly, the research for the EBG structure being extensively applied to various application products for which the required bandgap frequency bands separately differ, not to mention solving the aforementioned conductive noise problem, is urgently needed.